🇫🇮Data Protection Act (1050/2018)
Data Protection Act (1050/2018)
Finland applies this national law alongside the GDPR. The summary below concentrates on the national overlay so that the GDPR baseline is not duplicated.
Status: Current Finlex consolidation dated 22 May 2026; prospective Act 380/2026 changes are separately marked for 1 September 2026
Citation: Tietosuojalaki 1050/2018, especially ss. 5-7 and 27-36
Regulator: Office of the Data Protection Ombudsman
Source basis: Official Finlex current Finnish consolidation archived 22 August 2026; the Ministry of Justice English translation through Act 29/2024 was used only as a terminology aid.
How the national law fits with GDPR
The Act supplements the GDPR in Finland, extends selected GDPR rules outside EU-law scope and adds Finnish rules for children, sensitive and criminal data, identifiers, research, expression, rights restrictions and enforcement.
National additions and variations
- Section 5 sets 13 as the age at which a child may consent to a directly offered information-society service.
- Sections 6 and 7 provide national routes for special-category and criminal-offence data and require suitable specific safeguards such as access controls, logging, training, pseudonymisation, encryption and testing.
- Section 29 limits use and display of the Finnish personal identity code and prohibits identifying a person solely by the code, or by the code together with the person's name.
- Sections 31 and 32 condition research, statistics and archiving rights derogations; a DPIA or qualifying code is required for specified special-category or criminal-data research derogations and the DPIA must be sent to the Ombudsman before processing.
- Sections 35 and 36 impose confidentiality and protect the identity of a person reporting a suspected infringement where disclosure could harm the reporter.
The current Finnish PDF includes amendments already enacted but not yet effective. Apply the wording in force on the processing date and separately prepare for the provisions marked as commencing on 1 September 2026.
Operational approach
First maintain the GDPR control set. Then document whether this country is in scope and apply the national controls to the affected people, systems and processing. Keep article-level evidence for child consent, employment, special-category or criminal data, research, electronic communications, identifiers, surveillance and any rights restriction relied upon.
Do not treat GDPR compliance as automatic compliance with Tietosuojalaki. Record the national trigger, the responsible owner, the local procedure and the current official source reviewed.